Don't worry about "running behind"! It's not August yet and my understanding was that was to be the start date for the next round - which to me means starting organization as well as actual knitting. So I don't feel we are behind, the others are just excited and have gotten ahead. ;-)
As far as size goes, I think we need to decide on charities before starting too many blankets. While the worsted weight ones we have been doing are probably fine for most hospitals, the preemie (DK/sport) ones are really quite small and probably only appropriate for places with neonatal ICUs. If we look at non-hospital charities, most of the guidelines I have seen request blankets at least 36" square so the baby doesn't grow out of them as rapidly.

From reading previous posts in this thread, it seems like we have participants who each feel strongly that our blankets should be donated to several different types of charities. I think our order of attack should be: Select 2-3 charities, assign blankets to each charity at the beginning so they are knit to the right specifications, allow knitters to sign up for the blankets they prefer, knit . Every couple of months or X completed blankets we should reassess out charities and decided if we want to switch one of them (to spread the love around).

I just called Salem Hospital, here in my city in Oregon. Talked to a volunteer who told me they have a real need for blankets, both preemie and regular baby size. She asked me if we were a church group; because they are non-denominational they can't have a church name on the blankets, I told her no. She also said they ask that the yarn be one of the super soft baby acrylics (of course!). I 'guesstimated', after telling her that we're all basically from KH and Ravelry that we've probably made a thousand or so blankets for donation. That may be well over, but it seems that everytime I turn around someone from one of these two groups is sending charity work out.

I'll send the phone number to you, Nathalie,in a PM.

As far as where to send the blankets, I really don't care as long as they are needed, and like you, when it comes to being imaginative with names and designs, let's just say that's best left to others.

__________________
I LOVE THIS SITE!

"All good things and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights who cannot change."
James 1:17

Thanks, y'all...for your input. Deb, thank you for calling the hospital. I appreciate you getting all of that information for us.

I think it's safe to say that we can work on both types of blankets, right? If nobody else finds a place to donate the preemie ones, we'll just designate the hospital in Salem as getting these.

As far as what we write in the cards that accompany the blankets, I think that probably signing a card with our names and states is the simplest thing to do. I know from reading some others' experiences, that we need to be very careful not to include religious references as well as too much about "growing up," "long life," etc., since many of the babies are very sickly.

The thing about timing the donations, picking charities, etc...

I want to make sure that we all feel included. I, personally, don't mind NOT delivering blankets. My personal satisfaction comes from having worked on the blankets, which is what I know all of you feel as well.

It might just be better to pick one or two, say one for the worsted and one for the preemie and just donate the blankets to these places. This keeps it simple. After say, six months (that's a lot of blankets too), we could switch it up...spread the love.

Wanna know where this came from? The name of my fingernail polish. I happened to look at the bottom of the bottle after painting my toenails tonight. I can already envision this blanket.

What does that look like?

I'm very limited with color choices of yarn here on the island -- Wal-mart has several Caron Simply Soft colors & I'm hoping they have blue (swiss cheese brain when I went in the other day) as I would like the idea of doing a Pacific Blue afghan. I would be happy to cast this on, if I can find some blue tomorrow.

As far as donating it to one of the hospitals here -- I hope to be able to check in with them next week, but would be happy to knit for other areas where warm blankets are needed more.

__________________
Penny

"....that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love... Colossians 2:2

The color of my polish is kind of a coral color. When I read the name, I immediately pictured the colors of a sunset...blues, oranges...

If you need some different colors of yarn, please let me know. I would be more than willing to send you some. Perhaps, if you discover that you want a certain color for a blanket, the knitter before you could send it to you.

The wonderful thing about these blankets is that they are called Oddball for a reason. The colors get crazy, and so do the patterns. Don't sweat it...everything will work out fine.

As far as starting a Pacific Blues, that sounds great...and perfect for where you are!

You can use size 8 or size 9 needles. I can send you some, if you need.

We have a knitter who is very allergic to metal, so I think it would be best to make sure that all needles that travel with the blankets are either wood or plastic. NO metal.

Now, you can do like me and move stitches to your metal ones, knit with those, and then return the stitches to the original needles. I, personally, prefer to knit with my Options. So, this is what I do.